Differential contributions of subthalamic beta rhythms and 1/f broadband activity to motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease.

Excessive beta oscillatory activity in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is linked to Parkinson's Disease (PD) motor symptoms. However, previous works have been inconsistent regarding the functional role of beta activity in untreated Parkinsonian states, questioning such role. We hypothesized that this inconsistency is due to the influence of electrophysiological broadband activity -a neurophysiological indicator of synaptic excitation/inhibition ratio- that could confound measurements of beta activity in STN recordings.